Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Ch’ol Maya Cultural Survival



             The Mayan culture as a whole has been a culture in decline ever since the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century.  I previously believed he conquistadors dominated the Mayans in a swift takeover, however I found out it took 170 years for the final Mayan landmark to fall to the Spanish.  Due to the Mayans vast number of independent states, they had no political center for the Spaniards to overthrow.  The conquistadors had to takedown each individual state one by one, making for a very lengthy war.  Ever since then, those independent states have continued to dwindle in numbers.

            
              It’s sad to see such a spiritual and intelligent civilization destroyed by foreign explorers for their own selfish gains. The Mayans had tons of riches, including gold and silver that caused the Spaniards to start their crusade against the natives.  Instead of learning the new culture and embracing new ideas and information, the Spaniards killed off and destroyed as much as they could of the great Mayan civilization.

A picture of that the Spaniards may have looked like to the Mayans during their conquest

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